I've always liked the way American N Gauge trains run, they always seem to be smooth and be able to run at slow speed! So when I was given some Rivarossi locos and coaches the plans started to hatch!!!

At first plans started small (don’t us modellers always do that?) The first idea was to build a coffee table layout; this was ok, and I got planning permission, but where to put it was a problem, when I looked at the radius of track available, and the trains I had would negotiate, this idea was scrapped. I suppose as usual I broke one of the rules of track planning and built the baseboards first then started fitting the track plan to them. Then a Railroader Magazine did a special edition DVD & track plans/how to do it book. Voila! A plan that would fit my baseboards and was interesting! The plans were to fit an interior door (I thought it was a bit steep) so I laid it horizontally! On top of the door the builder put foam insulation board, this did one of two things 1. It deadened the sound. 2. It was easier to make rivers and cuttings. The track plan was a single loop with a passing loop, and the three lines at the back formed two storage roads ( I added one more storage loop).

As some of you may know I’m a “G” scale modeller mainly so the idea of ballasting N gauge track was SCAREY! So the cowards route was taken, I used Fleischmann ready ballasted track (what a hero!) but this is good track and with the depth of the base boards, the point motors had to be mounted beside the points which these do. To keep things as light as possible the scenic break was built with layers of polystyrene tiles then carved to shape. I hadn’t tried doing rock faces before (hills are a lot easier) but I’m pleased with the result.